December 15, 2010
AWAEM AWARENESS A quarterly update to inform you of the current activities of our Academy, to make this organization a strong advocate for women in academic emergency medicine. Gloria Kuhn and Stacey Poznanski
AWAEM presence strong at the Regional SAEM Meetings Dr. Druelinger presents... By Stacey Poznanski, DO
This month’s main articles will focus on the activities of the Regional Advisory Committee. To accomplish one of AWAEM’s goals for the year, we have been making appearances at each Regional SAEM Meeting to promote AWAEM membership and mentoring. With over 70 people in attendance at Wright State University in Dayton, OH on November 8, the 20th Annual Midwest Regional SAEM Meeting was a great success. Part of this success can be attributed to the engaging
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opening discussion on Advancing the Academic Career. It was given by one of our very own, Linda Druelinger! She was joined by a distinguished panel of Academicians, Drs. John Younger, Mary Jo Wagner, and Glenn Hamilton, who served as enlightening resources for those wishing to begin or continue their academic endeavors. AWAEM member Stacy Reynolds and I compiled a Work-Life Balance handout (see page 3) to be distributed at the first ever Great Plains Regional Meeting , held at the
University of Nebraska Medical Center. I traveled to Omaha in September to represent AWAEM, and the Academy’s vision was wellreceived. There was considerable interest in AWAEM membership and encouraging support from all in attendance. The Western and New England Regional Meetings are early next year. Contact us to get involved!!
AWAEM AWARENESS December 15, 2010
“All of us at AWAEM hope that your Thanksgiving was filled with reminiscence of the past year’s good tidings, and that your holiday season will bring you joy. Best wishes from all of us to all of you!” -AWAEM Leadership
SAEM is Right Around the Corner... AWAEM Luncheon and Awards Info below! By Gloria Kuhn, DO, PhD
Registration is now open for the 2011 Annual SAEM Meeting in Boston, June 1-5. Follow this link http://www.saem.org/ saemdnn/Meetings/AnnualMeeting2011/ tabid/1457/Default.aspx to register now. During your registration, be sure to sign up for the Annual AWAEM Luncheon. The purpose of the luncheon is to network and to recognize the women who are receiving AWAEM awards. Table facilitators will be present to assist with networking and to initiate discussions on important academic topics. They will also take notes during discussions so that the highlights can be reported in this newsletter. Tiffany Osbom and Stacey Poznanski have volunteered to help with planning the luncheon (for which I am very grateful). If you are interested in being a Facilitator for one of the several tables, please let me know. We’d be happy to have you participate!
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AWAEM Awards. Esther Choo (Chair, esther_choo@brown.edu) will be seeking nominations for our second annual AWAEM awards: the Leadership & Mentoring Award and the Early Career Faculty Award. The nomination process is being finalized and will be posted on the AWAEM website in January. The nomination deadline will be in early March.
AWAEM AWARENESS December 15, 2010
Twenty Tips and Tricks for Work-Life Balance By Stacy Reynolds, MD and Stacey Poznanski, DO
Determine your personal values and schedule time for them. Give yourself permission to enjoy these personal promises as you do your career promises. This includes exercise, adequate sleep, developing personal hobbies, reading something nonmedical, and time with your support network. Organization drives your best projects at work. Let this skill set boost your life productivity as well. book chapter. You’ve already done the Find your time wasters. research, so make it really count. Always looking for your keys? Does Can’t seem to find enough time to do your washing machine snack on all the things you love and still see your your matching socks? Fix these tenloved ones? Combine the two! Do a minute delays and carve out fifty yoga class with your best friend or minutes for an art class or yoga. sister. Take a cooking class with your significant other as part of date night. Build healthy habits into your Join a book club with your mother or work life. Take the stairs. Park a father. You’ll spend quality time longer distance from the office or together while keeping up those hospital. Move a meeting out of the personal values. office and take a campus stroll instead. Utilize all available time. Know the difference between necessities and luxuries. Certain projects may open doors and are important for advancement of your career or family. Others may be exciting to complete, but take considerable time and effort without the added benefits. Do a risk-benefit ratio before accepting every project that comes your way, so that luxury projects don’t take away from life necessities, like exercise and time with your family and friends. Double Dip. With every project, find a second goal it could satisfy. For example, if you’re asked to create a lecture, turn it into a
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“Women need real moments of solitude and selfreflection to balance out how much of ourselves we give away.” Barbara De Angelis
prepare a crock-pot full of great food for the next few days. Consult your local culinary school for pre-made meals, prepped ingredients with assembly at home, or even budding chefs that provide in-home catering. Consider joining a co-op for fresh fruit and veggies. Not only will you support local farmers, you get your produce delivered to home.
Limit shopping trips. Keep an ongoing list to record Make lunches for tomorrow while shopping needs as they occur. Buy dinner simmers on the stove. Listen certain staples like garbage bags, to audio CME while walking the dog. cleaning and paper products and Have a list of phone calls you can detergents in bulk once a year. You quickly make during the ten minutes can even buy your groceries online between meetings. for a small delivery fee when time is tight. Finish what you started at home. Hire a babysitter before you Dirty dishes, piles of laundry, and need one. Schedule a time weekly half-painted rooms augment your or bimonthly. The sitter will anxiety. Schedule 30 minutes each appreciate the steady work, and day to tackle these tasks. opportunities to build your marriage and maintain your support network Cook less, eat healthy more. will naturally fill the space. Efficient Healthy meals can take twenty errands, uninterrupted holiday minutes or less. Check out quick and shopping and early dinner and easy cookbooks. Consider making conversation with your spouse flow double portions and enjoying nicely from this plan. Continued on Page 4. leftovers, or use football Sundays to
AWAEM AWARENESS December 15, 2010
We want to hear from YOU! Let us know your progress and ideas... By Stacey Poznanski, DO & Gloria Kuhn, DO, PhD
There are so many wonderful and exciting events going on in this organization, and we’ve only just begun! There are plans underway to make this publication a quarterly newsletter. All members will get an e-mail with a link to the newsletter for easy access. We think this would be an ideal way to ensure our members know what is happening and how to get involved with comments, ideas, and actions. Effective communication with our members will always be a top priority and we hope an e- newsletter will be a perfect way to achieve that communication. To that end, we would love to hear from you about the important issues in your workplace and your home life. If you are able, get involved in one of the committees on the next page. If not, just shoot us an email with your thoughts on what is working, what needs to be better, and what we can do in the future to promote the success of our women. If you are a committee representative, send us an update to include in these emails, so that everyone can appreciate your hard work! Email either Stacey (stacey.poznanski@gmail.com) or Gloria (gkuhn@med.wayne.edu).
Make friends with stay-at-home moms or dads in your Twenty Tips and Tricks neighborhood. They have often for Work Life Balance done neighborhood research you won’t have time to replicate, such as Set homework deadlines. You where to get the best deals, how to don’t have time to struggle with unfinished assignments at 11 o’clock throw a great birthday party, and at night. You are not a selfish mother what businesses provide childcare. Appreciate their skill set. You’re not for saying “no” to behavior that as different as you think. disrupts the family. continued from Page 3.
Delegate household tasks when possible. Negotiate with your cleaning or lawn service providers to meet your specific needs. For example, ask your cleaning staff to do basic cleaning on even weeks and focus time on blinds, windows, grouting, bedding changes or closet clean up on odd weeks. Know what you need and work out a deal. If you don’t have either of these services, consider getting them, and use this extra time to focus on those personal values mentioned above. Keep your consultants on speed-dial. Identify a trusted plumber, handyman, electrician, travel agent or airline, babysitter, etc. before you need them. Keep these numbers accessible to limit stress when the unexpected occurs.
Prepare for equipment failures. As emergency physicians, we always have a backup plan. If the laryngoscope malfunctions, we don’t miss a beat. Have the same mentality at home. Get yearly service on all major appliances and heating/ cooling systems in your home. Get We look forward to hearing from you! replacement quotes for older equipment and keep these handy. If the air conditioning unit from 1994 quits two days before a major deadline, you’ll be ready.
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Know where your important documents live. Create a filing system that works for you and stick to it. This will help avoid wasted time plowing through piles of undifferentiated paperwork looking for that needed piece of paper to complete your current project. Establish a mentor network. We can all use guidance by those who have been there and done that, both at work and at home. Parenting requires mentorship too! Have a support network of people who can help you in various stages of parenting, puppy training, or other life events. Schedule time to plan. An hour each week or even 10 minutes at the end of each workday create opportunities to plan. Schedule time to reflect. Each individual’s recipe for personal and professional balance develops with time and experience. Allow time to process these experiences and foster growth in your personal values and definitions of happiness.
AWAEM AWARENESS December 15, 2010
Available Committees... time to get involved! By Gloria Kuhn, DO, PhD
In this first e-mail, I sent a list of AWAEM’s Committees with their respective Chairs. Here is a recap of that list. If you are interested in helping with any of these initiatives please e-mail the chair so you can be included. If you do not hear from the chair within a week please contact me as sometimes messages do get lost in the cyberspace of e-mail land. gkuhn@med.wayne.edu We need people like you to keep AWAEM a success!! AWAEM Research Committee Marna Greenberg: mrgdo@ptd.net AAMC/SAEM Data Collection Fiona Gallahu fiogal@mindspring.com Didactic Proposal for SAEM National Meeting Sarah Stahmer sarah.stahmer@duke.edu Regional Advisory Committee Linda Druelinger ldruelin@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu Creation and maintenance of database of women interested in leadership positions Tracy Sanson Oaks61596@aol.com
“I’m a woman of very few words, but lots of action.” Mae West
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Committee for Medical School Liaison Preeti Jose-Bilowich preetijois@ufl.edu Creation of database of med schools with programs supporting women faculty Keme Carter kemecarter@yahoo.com AWAEM Logo Jill Ripper JRipper@sbhcs.com Book Club Kathryn Dong kathryni@ualberta.ca E-Newsletter Stephanie Abbuhl & Alice Mitchell CORD/AWAEM video concept Stephanie Abbuhl Stephane.Abbuhl@uphs.upenn.edu Annual AWAEM Luncheon Gloria Kuhn gkuhn@med.wayne.edu Bio & AWAEM Committee Interest Forms Alice Mitchell Alice.Mitchell@carolinashealthcare Sue Watts Susan.Watts@ttuhsc.edu AWAEM Awards Committee Esther Choo esther_choo@brown.edu